Bernie Masters is a geologist/zoologist who spent 8 years as a member of the Western Australian Parliament. Married to Carolina since 1976 and living in south west WA, Bernie is involved in many community groups. This blog offers insights into politics, the environment and other issues that annoy or interest him. For something completely different, visit www.fiatechnology.com.au for information about vegetated floating islands - the natural way to improve water quality.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Just how toxic are the chemicals used in fracking?

Major class of fracking chemicals no more toxic than common household substances

November 12, 2014

The
“surfactant” chemicals found in samples of fracking fluid collected in
five states were no more toxic than substances commonly found in homes,
according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by researchers at the
University of Colorado Boulder.

Fracking fluid is largely comprised of water and sand, but
oil and gas companies also add a variety of other chemicals, including
anti-bacterial agents, corrosion inhibitors and surfactants. Surfactants
reduce the surface tension between water and oil, allowing for more oil
to be extracted from porous rock underground.

In a new study published in the journal Analytical Chemistry,
the research team identified the surfactants found in fracking fluid
samples from Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Texas. The
results showed that the chemicals found in the fluid samples were also
commonly found in everyday products, from toothpaste to laxatives to
detergent to ice cream.

“This is the first published paper that identifies some of
the organic fracking chemicals going down the well that companies use,”
said Michael Thurman, lead author of the paper and a co-founder of the
Laboratory for Environmental Mass Spectrometry in CU-Boulder’s College
of Engineering and Applied Science. “We found chemicals in the samples
we were running that most of us are putting down our drains at home.”

Imma Ferrer, chief scientist at the mass spectrometry
laboratory and co-author of the paper said, “Our unique instrumentation
with accurate mass and intimate knowledge of ion chemistry was used to
identify these chemicals.” The mass spectrometry laboratory is
sponsored by Agilent Technologies, Inc., which provides state-of-the art
instrumentation and support.

The fluid samples analyzed for the study were provided
through partnerships with Colorado State University and colleagues at
CU-Boulder.

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a technique used
to increase the amount of oil and gas that can be extracted from the
ground by forcing fluid down the well. Fracking has allowed for an
explosion of oil and gas operations across the country. In the U.S. the
number of natural gas wells has increased by 200,000 in the last two
decades, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Among the concerns raised by the fracking boom is that the
chemicals used in the fracking fluid might contaminate ground and
surface water supplies. But determining the risk of contamination—or
proving that any contamination has occurred in the past—has been
difficult because oil and gas companies have been reluctant to share
exactly what’s in their proprietary fluid mixtures, citing stiff
competition within the industry.

Recent state and federal regulations require companies to
disclose what is being used in their fracking fluids, but the resulting
lists typically use broad chemical categories to describe the actual
ingredients.

The results of the new study are important not only
because they give a picture of the possible toxicity of the fluid but
because a detailed list of the ingredients can be used as a
“fingerprint” to trace whether suspected contamination of water supplies
actually originated from a fracking operation.

The authors caution that their results may not be
applicable to all wells. Individual well operators use unique fracking
fluid mixtures that may be modified depending on the underlying geology.
Ferrer and Thurman are now working to analyze more water samples
collected from other wells as part of a larger study at CU-Boulder
exploring the impacts of natural gas development.

Thurman notes that there are other concerns about
fracking—including air pollution, the antimicrobial biocides used in
fracking fluids, wastewater disposal triggering earthquakes and the
large amount of water used—that are important to investigate and
ameliorate. But water pollution from surfactants in fracking fluid may
not be as big a concern as previously thought.

“What we have learned in this piece of work is that the
really toxic surfactants aren’t being used in the wells we have tested,”
he said.